Are You Living With Chronic Knee Pain? Here Are Some Signs That You're A Good Candidate For Total Knee Replacement Surgery
Chronic knee pain can interfere with performing work and performing physical activities you enjoy, such as swimming or jogging. When the pain becomes extreme, it can even prevent you from bathing and getting dressed in the morning. Thankfully, pain that's caused by damage to your knee joint — whether due to physical trauma or arthritis — can be alleviated through total knee replacement surgery. This knee surgery replaces your damaged joint with two metal brackets that have a plastic disc between them in order to provide cushioning. It can greatly reduce your knee pain and allow you to perform low-impact physical activities without worry. Are you a good candidate for a total knee replacement? Here are some signs that this knee surgery may be the right choice for you.
Intensity: Your Pain Interferes With Daily Activities
When knee pain becomes severe, it can severely interfere with your daily life — you may become unable to clean yourself properly in the shower or have difficulty clothing yourself in the morning because bending your knee is impossibly painful. Pain that interferes with your daily life makes you a good candidate for knee replacement surgery, as the surgery can help you to perform daily living activities without pain and without the need for assistance, making you more independent and significantly improving your quality of life.
Additionally, osteoarthritis tends to be a progressive disease — your cartilage slowly wears away over time, which will intensify the pain that you feel in your knee. Even if your knee pain doesn't significantly interfere with your life, you may still wish to talk with an orthopedic surgeon about total knee replacement — it can prevent your knee pain from continuing to worsen.
Age: Older Patients Are Better Candidates for Total Knee Replacement
Injuries or conditions such as juvenile osteoarthritis can lead to deteriorating cartilage and debilitating knee pain even in very young people. A total knee replacement is an option for you that can help alleviate your pain.
Unfortunately, total knee replacement surgery does come with a caveat — the replacement joint does not last forever. Over time, the plastic disc between the metal replacement joints will wear down. Once the total knee replacement has deteriorated enough to begin causing pain, it needs to be replaced again. Successive surgeries are more difficult than the original knee replacement surgery because each surgery requires the surgeon to remove some of your bone — after one or two revisions, you may not have much bone left to work with.
Of course, this doesn't mean that total knee replacement surgery is off-limits for young people who can expect the knee replacement to wear down within their lifetime. You will, however, have to discuss all of your options with your orthopedic surgeon and determine if total knee replacement is the right knee surgery for you. You may wish to delay total knee replacement for as long as possible by receiving other knee surgeries such as an osteotomy, which shifts your knee joint so that you bear more weight on undamaged portions. If you are over the age of 50, however, then total knee replacement becomes a much more attractive option — you're much less likely to require a surgical revision.
Location: Your Knee Pain Is Consistently Felt Across Your Entire Knee Joint
Total knee replacement surgery is meant for those who have severe joint deterioration across the entire knee. If your knee pain is localized to one side of the knee or the other, partial knee replacement or an osteotomy may be a better choice. Your surgeon will take X-rays of your knee in order to determine the extent of the damage to your knee joint — if you have widespread cartilage deterioration, you're a good candidate for a total knee replacement.
If you're having difficulty performing daily activities due to knee pain and want to find relief, the first step is to schedule an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. After evaluating the condition of your knee, you will receive information on all of the knee surgery options available to you. Work closely with your surgeon in order to determine which one best fits your age and lifestyle — he or she will help you make the right decision about your chronic knee pain.
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